2009 Appleton, WI Convention		Lancaster 2008 – Our Speakers  Thursday, June 26, 2008 – Torch Paper #1 Don’t Tell Me What to Do! The Scots-Irish and the Shaping of America  Peter Swift Seibert, President - Heritage Center of Lancaster County, Inc.,which includes the Lancaster Cultural History Museum and the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum.       Peter Seibert started working in the Fort Hunter Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a tour guide when he was 13 and he has worked  in museums ever since.     He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in American Studies from the Pennsylvania State University, and is a teacher, lecturer and author of such books as Visions of Solitude: Painters of the Susquehanna River School, How We Lived: Everyday Furniture, Fashions and Settings, 1880-1940, and most recently, Pennsylvania German Furniture.     As an historian, he is intrigued not only by who did what, and how, and when, but also by the ways in which our values have changed and who changed them. With excitement and a great depth of historical awareness, he brings a unique perspective when he speaks about the Scots-Irish in Pennsylvania, and America, in general. He explores the questions “How have the Scots-Irish affected us with their independent way of thought?” and “Where does rugged individualism end and individual responsibility begin?”  Friday, June 27, 2008 – Torch Paper #2 Thaddeus Stevens and Civil Rights: America’s Forgotten Giant   Bradley R. Hoch, M.D., Gettysburg pediatrician and author.        Bradley Hoch has two heroes, Abraham Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens, and he’s written books about both of them. The first is The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania, Looking for Lincoln’s Philadelphia: A Personal Journey from Washington Square to Independence Hall. The second is Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg: The Making of an Abolitionist.     Asked if these two great figures have anything in common in their backgrounds, Dr. Hoch responds, “They both were poor boys, but because of hard work, intelligence and education, they rose to great heights.  Lincoln was incredibly good at gauging how far he could go under the political system at any given time. He could bend until the time was right to act. But Thaddeus Stevens was a scrapper, at his best in a fight.  He would not bend.” He proposed the 13th amendment abolishing slavery, and proposed and pushed the 14th or civil rights amendment through Congress and much more. When asked if there were anyone like Stevens today, Hoch replied, “No.”     Bradley Hoch is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and spent his residency at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He speaks fluent Spanish, which serves him well in his position of medical director of medical missions to Honduras, currently sponsored by Cure, International. He has served as a participant there for 15 years and comes to us directly from Honduras.   Dr. Hoch is a member of the Gettysburg-Adams County Torch Club. Saturday, June 28, 2008 – Torch Paper #3 Polling and the Presidential Election: Cliffhanger or Blowout?   G. Terry Madonna. Ph.D., Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs, Professor of Public Affairs, and Director of the Keystone Poll at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.      For more than 30 years, Dr. Madonna has taught and written about his two academic specialties: the American presidency and American political parties and political behavior. He received his bachelor’s degree from Millersville University in education, his master’s degree in history and  Ph.D. degree in political history from the University of Delaware. A frequent political analyst and public affairs commentator, Dr. Madonna has also provided analysis to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S.A. Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, CNN, ABC News and CBS News, as well as others.         Dr. Madonna has received numerous awards and honors. He is the recipient of a Distinguished Professor Award by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and has also been named an “Outstanding Speaker of the Year” by the Speech Communication Society of Pennsylvania.  Additionally, he has served as a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and he is a recipient of the Daniel Roselle Award by the Middle States Council for Social Studies.  Sunday, June 29, 2008 – Torch Paper #4 Immigration: Is the Melting Pot Boiling Over?                             Paul E. Irion, retired Professor of Pastoral Theology, and author       Paul Irion retired in 1987 from the faculty of Lancaster Theological Seminary of the United Church of Christ in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he served for 27 years as Professor of Pastoral Theology. He is a graduate of Elmhurst College, Eden Theological Seminary and the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and has done additional studies at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.    Dr. Irion specialized in studying death and grieving and was honored by the Association for Death Education and Counseling for his pioneering work in death and bereavement education. In 1954, he wrote his first book on the subject, The Funeral and the Mourners, predating Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s work. Since then he has written five other books on a variety of subjects.     He was the founding president of Hospice of Lancaster County and remains a volunteer on its ethics committee, is active in the training of clergy and leads support groups. He has also served as a trustee and as chairperson of the board of the Chautauqua Institution, a cultural and educational center in New York State.    Commenting on immigration Dr. Irion says,” I have been working to provide a framework for understanding the immense complexities of the immigration dilemma. I’m not proposing a solution. Great minds have struggled unsuccessfully with these issues.  But our elections,and our future,are going to be strongly influenced by the positions on immigration taken by our candidates. I am trying to explore the whole problem rationally and to bring a measure of clarity.”    Paul Irion recently completed a novel about 19th century immigrants, That Far Land We Dream About.  Dr. Irion is a member of the Lancaster Torch Club. Copyright © 1998-2007. All rights reserved. Website designed and hosted by Information Analytics.